Stay cool with winter activities

Galleria at Sunset, Lake Las Vegas offer ice skating facilities

Lace up your skates and don your warmest coat. Ready or not, winter soon will be settling over Las Vegas, and there are a number of winter activities valleywide that are proclaiming its chilly arrival.

The ice skating rink at Lake Las Vegas, 1600 Lake Las Vegas Parkway, opens on Friday with a Christmas tree lighting and live entertainment.

"This will be a holly-jolly good time for kids zero to 99," marketing coordinator Andrea Day said. "I think that it's so easy to build great memories and family traditions in settings like this one. It's more than just entertaining or fun. You create moments here that will be with you forever."

The rink will be open from noon to 9 p.m. daily through Feb. 17. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children under 12 years old.

The Galleria at Sunset mall, 1300 W. Sunset Road, puts the chill in winter fun with its family friendly ice skating rink, open from Nov. 23 to Jan. 1.

"We are excited about the opportunity to provide this magnitude of attraction for our shoppers during the holiday season," mall manager Marie Martorano said. "We feel that we are bringing a unique service to our community."

There will be a weekly drawing from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sundays at the ice rink. Prizes will be given away, including photos with Santa and store gift cards.

Hours and price vary. To find out more, call 434-0202.

There may be little chance of snow during the Las Vegas winter, but with the Henderson Winterfest Celebration, valley residents can frolic and play in a manufactured winter wonderland.

The event will feature live entertainment, winter-related recreation, food and folk art booths from Dec. 6-9 in the Henderson Events Plaza, located at 200 S. Water St.

The festivities will kick off at 7 p.m. Dec. 6 with a free holiday performance by the Henderson Civic Orchestra and will continue at 6 p.m. Dec. 7 with the official tree lighting and award ceremony for the Holiday Home Decorations contest and Canstruction, a competition in which local architects build structures out of canned goods.

"The structures will be on display for public viewing," special events coordinator Annette Mullins said. "There are some truly spectacular entries. The best part is that, after the season is over, all of the canned goods are donated to local food banks."

Activities on Dec. 8 will include a kiddy train, ice-skating, pony rides, a petting zoo, a snow play area, carolers and a local production of "A Christmas Carol" beginning at 4 p.m.

Admission to the festival is free. For more information, visit www.hendersonlive.com.

The festival will include the Winterfest Children's Parade at 10 a.m. Dec. 8. The parade route will begin at Ocean Avenue and Water Street and end at Panama Street. The U.S. Marines will be the parade's grand marshals.

"Their Toys for Tots Foundation is such a great cause, and that's another reason that they've been included," special events coordinator Charlene Ham said. "We are honored to have them."

Toys for Tots donation bins will be located in several locales during Winterfest. Community members are encouraged to bring at least one toy for donation.

To find out more or to enter in the parade, call 267-2171.